Ghosts are scarier:
You walk into your sister’s room to see her levitating above her bed. Her limbs are tied to the bed posts with rope as the priest chants the Bible. He continues to throw holy water on her while she gives out a blood-curdling scream. You are witnessing an exorcism. This extremely scary scene is all thanks to ghosts, the superior frighteners. The spotting and conversing of malevolent spirits dates back to prehistoric times and are still relevant in pop culture. Romans told stories about haunted houses in Athens and ghosts that could possess whoever they wished. These gruesome tales, shared among generations and generations, only became scarier over time. We have movies such as The Conjuring, Poltergeist, and Insidious that all portray the haunting ghosts embark on terrorizing anyone and everyone. Now think about a scary skeleton story or movie, go ahead … I’m waiting. Oh, you couldn’t think of one? Because there isn’t any. That’s weird, or is it? Skeletons simply don’t have the terrifying attributes ghosts have acquired, so our culture doesn’t associate them with fright.

Instead of being cynical, skeletons are extremely helpful, for they give us support, facilitate movement, and protect our internal organs. If that’s scary to you, I would recommend not going to medical school. Due to the fact we all have skeletons, they are normalized, so being scared of a skeleton is like being scared of your muscular system, or even worse, your respiratory system. We can examine our bones, study their molecular makeup, and prove they aren’t living structures. The bones of any creature cannot survive by themselves because a creature needs many other bodily systems to carry on life. However, we do not know much about the spirit and what happens to it after we pass. No research can be done on ghosts which leaves room for mystery and, with mystery, comes fear. Ghosts could be all around us, controlling our actions, whispering ideas into our heads, and we would never know. Human nature craves control, so the threat of not being able to control ourselves sends shivers down our backs.

So, with that said, let’s get practical. A ghost would destroy a skeleton in a fight. The skeleton could punch, kick, throw his bone, ect., and the ghost would feel nothing. This defensive attribute comes from a spirit’s ability to travel between the ethereal and human realm. Though the ghost couldn’t directly attack the skeleton, it could possess a creature that could get the job done. All the ghost would have to do is hit a couple of bones causing the whole skeletal system to fall. The spirit could then scatter the bones, and the skeleton could not reassemble itself. Ghosts take a much longer and harder process to defeat. One must obtain holy water, a powerful enough priest, and an enchanted cross just to begin the process of condemning a ghost while it takes one hit to send a skeleton tumbling down. Pinning a ghost against a skeleton, even one hundred skeletons, would ultimately end in the ghost once again proving its superiority to the bony structure.

Even when it comes down to special abilities, ghosts take the cake mainly with the power to possess. Sure, skeletons can assemble themselves back together after taking a hit, but ghosts can miss that hit entirely while making other organisms do their bidding. Though possession is scary in general, human possession is way more frightening. They can make us commit crimes and perform unspeakable acts in which we have no control of. Even worse, they can actually occur in real life. There are many cases of possession that causes its victims to become murderous and mentally insane. These malevolent spirits seek out a life form, specifically human, to join the living again, for death is torturous. Their want to be alive again makes them extremely dangerous and terrifying for they will stop at nothing to get what they desire. Skeletons simply don’t have this ability of possession or mind control, so they don’t pose any real threat to us. Skeletons are also easier to get away from for they are physical beings, meaning they can only move through physical means. On the other hand, ghosts can travel through our world quickly for they are ethereal beings. They can track us easier as well because they can sense a life force and target it.

When it comes down to it, ghosts are superior to skeletons. Even ghost costumes are easy to make and cooler than any bony costume you can think of. The scare factor, ability to float and pass through walls, and immortality of ghosts makes skeletons look like boneheads. In the end, skeletons have nothing on ghosts.

-Nevin

Naw, skeletons get the prize:
Imagine you walk into a room, and you see a book slowly slide off the shelf. Yes, you may wonder: “Hmm, how did that happen?” Or perhaps a chair is knocked over\; you may be scared, but it won’t scare the light of day out of you. Now, imagine you’re out for a walk after an event, let’s say a football game, and you’re walking home. Then all of a sudden you see a lifeless body walk towards you. The mirror image of your insides, up and moving. “What do I do? How is that possible? What’s happening? Is this the end?” All of these terrifying thoughts racing through your head as you begin to run away from the corpse, but it follows you. You find a place to hide and think you’re safe, then you realize the bones of an arm in the closet, and the arm starts to move towards you, and force you out of the closet right into the monster of your own body. Now that would scare the daylights out of you.
The classic skeleton is very underrated when it comes to all of the horrifying situations our human brains imagine around Spook Season, also known as Halloween. This classic has been a part of the wardrobe of Halloween since the very beginning, and can always give a good fright, if done right. Yes, there are the goofier and funnier skeletons that are smiling and wholly unscary, but the same thing goes for ghosts. Take Casper the Friendly Ghost, for example. Everyone knows Casper, and nobody runs for their lives.
And when you truly look at it, think about how creepy it is that the same skeletons you see in movies and elsewhere are the same exact thing that’s in you. You are not a skeleton, nor will you become one. You are a brain that is merely controlling a skeleton with an armor of meat and muscles. On the other hand, where do ghosts come from? They all come from someone who once was. Everyone becomes a ghost to walk a planet if you believe that kind of stuff. Meanwhile, no one becomes a skeleton. A skeleton is the eerie remains of our once selves. With no purpose, no conscious, no motive. Doomed to walk the shadows of the Earth maybe even looking for a body. Longing for what they once had. And if that doesn’t send chills down your body, then I just don’t know what will.
Yes, skeletons may not be in the entertainment genre as much as ghosts. But that doesn’t make them any less worthy of a scare. If anything, it makes them more worthy. Ghosts have always been talked about and always feared. On the other hand though, if you dive down into the existence of a skeleton, you might get shivers down your spine.

-Blake

Which spook gives you the chills?